Smyrna times., 1887-09-14
NO MERCY FOR PIRATES.

have several times heard my father.
who was lieutenant aboard of II. M. S.
Spitlire, tell of his adventures among the
pirates who used to make the coasts of
Arabia and Persia such a terror to sea-
men. 1t took many years and plenty of
hard knocks to clear the seas of those
gentry, and the crews of the war ships re-
ceived more wounds than prize money.
One story in particular, which heard NV
father tell several times over, had a pecu-
liar interest for me, for l had seen the
vessel spoken of in dock at Liverpool. I
will give the yarn in his own language as
near as l can:
we had run across from the I.acca-
dive Islands to the Gulf of Alden. and
were just inside the Island of Socotra.
When we picked up a sailor floating on q
plank. 1t was about o'clock in the
morning, with little or no sea running.
and the lookout saw him when he was vet
a mile away. How he was preserved from
the sharks has always been a matter of
mystery to me. When we lowered a boat
to pick him up he was fairly surrounded
Dy the hungry monsters. Through the
snip S glass counted nineteen cutting the
water around his float, and could not
reach him before he was drawn down.
If Providence ever makes Il sDeciol
effort for poor humanity it made n grand
effort TO preserve that sailors life and
permit him to fulfill his mission He was
drawn safely aboard the boat, and when
ne had had glass of grOg we got his
story. He had been second mate on
BOARD an American brig named the True
rag. 1 think she hailed from Boston.
but am not sure. saw her in Iiverpool
three years before this incident. and
painted on her stern was the first Amer
lean flag had ever seen except at a dis
tance. This was the reason / remen-
bered her above all others.
Inc American had been up the gulf
and into the Red sea, and had come out
WIN part OF cargo and was going up to
Mlroat to finish loading when he was
ATTACKED by three pirate dhows. This oc-
CURED the evening before, and only
twenty miles north of the island The
attack was made after sundOwn. and
while two other merchantmen were in
sight The dhOws had been noticed
hoverlng about, and their evil intention
was suspected, but it was little the crew
OF the brig could do to defend themselves.
Ihey mad a few old muskets and cutlasses.
ouO the dhoWs ran the brig aboard
poured fifty or sixty men on to her decks
ana the fight was over in five minutes
The mate, knowing that all was lost had
gone overheard with a plank during tbe
confusion, and the wind and sea had
drltted him down across our course
There was no doubt that every man
aboard the brig had been cut down or
saved Tor captivity and ransom, and that
the vessel had been thoroughly plundered
Dy that time, but it was just such an in
cldent as we wanted to hear of. We
hadn't had brush with the pirates for
several weeks, and were getting rusty for
the want of work
The Spitfire was, of course. a sailing
snip She was a snug craft of thirtv-six
guns, with strong and ready crew. and
the hrst thing done after hearing the sail
or story was to heave her to in the Iiobt
WIND and transform her from a tau0bt
ana trim man-Of-war into a merchant
man. 1 had charge Of this work. and It
was not the first time we had made the
change 10 deceive the pirates Inside Of
three hours the best glass aboard Of a
dhow could not have told the SDifare ~
the royal navy, from the Sarah lane ~
New Bedford. And then we beat mn to-
the north for further news CONCERNING tho
brig. The wind was light and batting
and when night came we had seen notb,
ing. Just at dark, however, a French
Dark coming out Of Keshin reported seq
ing three dhows and a brig standing in
Tor bay between Mirbat and the latter
place-a hiding place and rendezvous as
we mad previously been informed We
could DO nothing going in there in the
nlgnt' out we stood on till pretty well in
70 the coast and then prepared to la- of
and on. After midnight we got n. stifTisb
land breeze and had to run to sea. and ft
was well that this happened so. Wben
morning came we could Just make ont
tne coast range of mountains through tl,e
glass, and the breeze was dead against
US. IT was only well into DAYLIGHT vvben
the dhows were espied coming ont We
set signal Of distress and pointed the
ships nose for the gulf, but we took GOOD
care not to run too fast
The success Of the evening Dreviaus
had emboldened the pirates. / don't
know what sort Of q looking over they
gave Us from their mastheads, but they
were ce- .a.l.y deceived as to our identity. |
lAes o.. ONE dead at us on the start,
pr0Dably intending to give US q bit of in
vest 9ation, but no sooner did fle si0pal
Of distress become plain to them than eacb |
diOW altered her course and bore straight |
down Did not our signal call for helD9
was u NOT their duty 70 hasten to our
AID? There was but one etler sail in
sight, and she was well up the gulf The
pirates had a clear coast and a haDless
victim, and they cracked on all sail. They
had scarcely been seen before the Yankee
mate recognized them rs the identical
dhows Of the day previous, and after that
we had no fears Of making a mistake
Our whole crew entered into the scheme
with will While we did not beat TO
quarters, every gun was made ready.
ammunition passed up, and long enough
before the dhOWs were up we had every
preparation made Two-thirds Of the
mon were Kept IN shelter behind the bul-
Fafks' and The pirates could see nothing
to arouse a suspicion.
The piratical crafts came along in n
bunch. They were Of about the same
size and burden, and each carried fully
forty men. When they had come down
within cannon shot they separated. having
probably planned % lay US aboard Stem
and stern, but our captain did not propose
q Jet It 60 that far. While hecouid lave
no doubt OK our ability to clean out the
scoundrelly gang, he realized that a hum
dred determined fellows dumped upon our
decks with pistols and cutiasses meant
death and wounds 10 some Of our crew.
just as the dhows separated our Dorfs
were knocked open, the guns run out. and
next moment we were giving it. to them
not and heavy. The fellows could NOT
have been more Surprised had the Sea sud-
denly opened to swallow them up. Each
q the dhows had . couple Of cannons On
deck, Dnt there was no Thought Of using
them The knowledge that they had
caught Tartar seemed to unnerve them,
and the first dhow had gone down beforo
either Of the other two seemed to think Of
escape. Then it was too late. Our SHOT
went right through them and left terribIe
gaps ior the sea to pour IN, and ia inst
seven minutes by the watch from the
firing of tho hrst gun we got the order 10
cease firing.
Zone dhOM was at the bottom. the
second with her rail awash, and the third
was On her beam end and slowly turning
turtle. The survivors Of our cannonade
were floating about on pieces Of the wreck
age, but BIZ the time we had lowered our
boats and picked no seven the rest had